Donald Trump's 35-Year-Old Aide Once Jumped Into a Car Trunk to Stay Near Him — Now Her Brother Is Speaking Out About What She Is

The 35-year-old aide has followed Donald Trump from golf courses to campaign events and eventually into the White House. But one bizarre incident involving a motorcade vehicle has now drawn fresh attention to the lengths she reportedly went to remain near him.

Donald Trump's aide Natalie Harp has spent years building an unusually close position inside the president's orbit. Now, her estranged brother is speaking publicly about that devotion — and revealing that her fascination with presidents began long before Donald came into the picture.

Natalie first came to wider public attention through her story of surviving bone cancer. She credited Donald's "Right to Try" law with helping her obtain treatment after she said conventional options had failed. In 2020, she spoke at the Republican National Convention and told Donald that he had saved her life.

Natalie's Connection to Trump Started With a Personal Story

Medical experts later questioned that account. As The Seattle Times reported, the treatment Natalie received was an FDA-approved drug being used for an unapproved purpose, meaning it would not have been covered by the Right to Try law.

There was also a significant timing issue: Natalie had already said in March 2018 that she was receiving the treatment, while Donald did not sign the Right to Try legislation until May of that year.

Still, Natalie's admiration for Donald grew. After appearing at the Republican convention, she joined his emerging campaign operation in 2022 after previously working for One America News. She soon became one of the aides who was almost constantly around him.

The Job That Put Her Within Arm's Reach of the President

Natalie's role developed in an unusual direction. She began accompanying Donald during his golf outings, carrying a portable printer and producing hard copies of news articles, emails, and other information for him.

The arrangement earned her the nickname "Human Printer." But the printer was only the beginning. According to Vanity Fair, Natalie became a significant gatekeeper because she helped determine which information reached Donald.

She printed articles and messages she believed would interest him and remained close enough to respond whenever he wanted something.

Her duties eventually expanded into communications. She helped send messages, interacted with members of Congress, and became involved in Donald's social media operation. According to a report, Natalie brings Donald stacks of proposed Truth Social posts for approval and has sometimes logged into his account to publish batches of messages.

The posts included material about the 2020 election, criticism of anonymous social media users and calls for the arrest of former President Barack Obama.

Natalie was also reportedly involved in posting material that included a video about Somalia, which appeared on Donald's Truth Social account.

But some of the material she reportedly posted went considerably further. Earlier this year, at Donald's direction, Natalie reportedly posted a video that included racist imagery of Barack Obama and his wife as apes, as well as an AI-generated image of Donald as a Christ-like figure.

Reportedly, Donald later deleted both posts after facing bipartisan criticism. When asked about the Christ-like image, he acknowledged that "I did post it" but said he had understood it as an image of himself as a doctor helping people.

He dismissed the criticism as something "only the fake news could come up with" and added that the image was supposed to show him "making people better."

The episode was another example of the unusual level of access Natalie had to Donald. She was not simply passing along information; she was helping manage what reached the president and, at times, what he shared publicly. That proximity was not something she appeared willing to give up easily. One of the clearest examples reportedly happened in October 2023.

When There Was No Room in the Car, She Found Another Way

Natalie was supposed to accompany Donald to a court appearance in lower Manhattan, according to the account discussed during her brother's recent CNN interview. But there was reportedly no room for her in the vehicle.

Natalie allegedly insisted that Donald had personally asked her to attend and therefore that she needed to be there. According to two sources cited by CNN, the disagreement over who would ride in which vehicle eventually ended with Natalie climbing into the trunk of one of the motorcade vehicles.

Her estranged brother, Preston Harp, was recently asked about the incident on CNN's OutFront. He said he had never heard about it before:

"That's really funny. I didn't even know about that [...] It's actually kind of sad. That's obsession. That's like an unhealthy obsession with someone if you're going to jump into the trunk of their car, like."

The story was certainly unusual. But according to accounts of Natalie's time around Donald, the motorcade incident was not the only time she found an unconventional way to stay close.

She Even Moved Into a Locker Room

When Donald's team moved to Bedminster, New Jersey, Natalie reportedly encountered another obstacle. She needed somewhere to stay, but no accommodation was initially allotted to her. According to Michael Wolff's account in All or Nothing, Natalie contacted the grounds staff at the country club and obtained a maid's room.

But even that was apparently not close enough. When the room proved too far from the main house for her to respond quickly to Donald's calls, Natalie reportedly moved into the women's locker room.

She spent the summer there, according to Michael's account. Her determination to remain within Donald's reach also reportedly followed him onto the golf course.

During a golf outing in Aberdeen, Scotland, Natalie was allegedly denied a golf cart of her own and instead ran behind Donald on foot. At his West Palm Beach course, she typically followed him in a golf cart equipped with her wireless printer. The increasingly unusual scenes were not confined to golf courses and country clubs.

Then She Was Separated From Donald on a Plane

Another incident occurred during what became known as the "Ghost Flight." After a bullet grazed Donald during the July 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a suspected gunman was later discovered near his West Palm Beach golf course, his security team reportedly became concerned about another potential attack.

Donald subsequently traveled on Steve Witkoff's plane while other campaign staffers, including Natalie, were placed aboard the Trump-branded aircraft.

Natalie reportedly took the separation badly. According to excerpts from Alex Isenstadt's book Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power, she later texted Donald complaining that she was more important than the other staff members and should have been with him.

Then, during the flight, she reportedly wandered into Donald's empty bedroom. Staffers were reportedly shocked because it was an area of the plane they themselves would not have entered.

But another boundary issue was reported — this time involving Donald's wife.

Melania Trump Reportedly Found Natalie in Trump's Private Quarters

According to excerpts from Alex's book obtained by the Daily Mail, "Harp didn't do well with boundaries."

“There was the time when a surprised Melania Trump stumbled upon Harp late at night in Trump's private quarters at Mar-a-Lago, an area that was typically off-limits to those outside Trump's family," Alex wrote. "Harp was there to deliver Trump some documents and didn't want to wait until the morning to give them to him."

The encounter reportedly left Melania surprised and became another example of Natalie's unusually broad access to Donald. By this point, her behavior had reportedly become conspicuous enough that some of Donald's advisers had given her an unflattering nickname.

Why Her Colleagues Called Her "Fatal Attraction"

According to Alex's book, some of Donald's advisers jokingly compared Natalie to Glenn Close's character Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction. The comparison reportedly stemmed from the intensity of Natalie's attachment to Donald and her determination to stay near him.

The nickname did not establish a romantic relationship between Natalie and Donald. Rather, it reflected the sheer intensity of her devotion that reportedly unsettled some people around the campaign.

Alex wrote that Natalie had become effectively "unfireable." Despite frustration among some senior staffers, Donald continued to value her. Steven Cheung, Donald's White House communications director, described Natalie as a "trusted and valued member of President Trump's team" and praised her work ethic and dedication.

But the stories about Natalie's proximity to Donald were only part of what reportedly concerned people around him. She had also started putting her feelings into writing.

Her Letters Made People Around Trump Uneasy

According to The New York Times, several people around Donald became unsettled by a series of letters Natalie sent him in 2023. In one letter, Natalie wrote, "You are all that matters to me," and added, "I don't ever want to let you down." She also thanked Donald for being her "Guardian and Protector in this Life."

In another letter, Natalie said she wanted to get back to "that synergy" she once had with Donald, when they could "talk about everything and nothing."

"I want to bring you joy," she wrote, "to feel like we can get through a day without ever having to talk 'work.'" The letters added a more personal dimension to a relationship that had already attracted attention because of Natalie's physical proximity to Donald.

And according to Michael Wolff, the concerns did not stop with Trump's political and legal teams. They eventually reached the people responsible for protecting him — the Secret Service.

The Secret Service Was Reportedly Paying Attention

In All or Nothing, Michael wrote that the Secret Service had Natalie's letters in its possession and had begun noticing what he described as the strangeness of her behavior.

Donald nevertheless continued to rely on Natalie. He even stated that:

"She just loves her president."

She remained an aide with extraordinary access to him, even as reports about her behavior continued to circulate inside his orbit. And now, her brother has offered the detail that may explain why her attachment to presidents — and eventually to Donald — appeared so intense.

Her Brother Says This Started When She Was 16

After Sen. Jon Ossoff publicly questioned Natalie's fierce loyalty to Donald, Preston appeared on CNN's OutFront. He was asked whether the behavior described in reports sounded like the sister he knew. His answer suggested that Donald was not the beginning of the story.

"Yeah. Um, I mean, basically, I'd say since she was like 16, she's had an obsession with, with, um, gosh, how do I explain this? Um, she's written letters to other presidents. Let me put it that way. Um, and so like her dream came true finally."

Preston said Natalie had written to other presidents, including George Bush during the Iraq War. He had not personally seen the letter, however, and did not know what became of it.

When asked whether the White House ever responded, Preston said, "No, they never responded."

That revelation puts Natalie's relationship with Donald in a very different context.